


When you wish upon a Star

by SweetieFiend



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Magic, One Shot, Other, Supportive Relationships, Wishing, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7226569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetieFiend/pseuds/SweetieFiend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan makes a wish on a star and Arin and Suzy have to deal with the ramifications of his wish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When you wish upon a Star

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this while thinking of an AU a friend of mine doing, this has nothing to do with that AU thought. It was very fun to write and hope you guys enjoy.  
> Leave a comment if you like it! Feedback is appreciated ^_^

It was a warm August evening as Dan laid on the grass in the Hanson backyard. It was was one of the rare occasions where they had a day off and he was invited over to relax. Dan shut his eyes and took in the smell of barbeque that wafted toward him and he smiled.  
“Smells good, Ar!” Dan called as he looked behind him. Arin was grilling while Suzy, Holly, Ross, and Brian all sat around him talking. Arin smiled back at his lover.  
“I know, dude! Come over, it’s almost ready.” Dan made his way over toward his friends and had the time of his life. He always savored moments like this. Him and his second family worked almost all day everyday so a day off was rare. He wasn’t complaining though, he loved his job. It’s a job he never thought he would have, and had a successful band on top of it. It was everything he ever dreamed of as a kid. 

It was dark when everyone started to leave and Dan was offered to stay the night. Himself, Arin, and Suzy have been sorta secretly dating one another recently and haven’t been ready to publicly announce it to the rest of their friend group, however, most of them already had an inkling. Dan helped Arin and Suzy clean up and took an extra few moments to relax on the grass outside as his lovers went inside. He stared up at the stars and took in his surroundings. It was always so relaxing and made him miss his childhood home. He thought back to running around the streets of New Jersey. He had so much energy back then and hated how much he took it for granted. Now, as an adult in his late thirties he was almost always tired and could feel himself get older every day. 

He missed being a kid sometimes, even though his life was perfect now. All the signs of getting older, he guessed. As he sat up to go inside, he looked up at the sky one more time and saw a shooting star. His eyes widened, he’d never seen one before. Dan wasn’t one for superstition, but when would he see another shooting star? He closed his eyes and whispered.  
“I could be young again, just for a little bit.” He laughed to himself. Wishing on stars was something he never really did. It’s not like his wish would actually come true, there is no way he would be able to become young again.

Dan made his way back into the house and knew that Arin and Suzy were both in the bedroom, but as soon he got into the living room he got hit with a wave of exhaustion. He yawned and rubbed his eye as he collapsed face first onto the couch. His long limbs sprawled out over the couch and he could feel Mochi and Mimi cuddle around him. Dan lazily ran his fingers over the cats' fur and smiled as he lulled himself to sleep. 

~~

Arin was the first to get up. It was early in the morning and the sunrise was shining in his face, having forgotten to close the curtains the night before. He groaned and rolled over to see Suzy sleeping soundly. He lightly kissed her forehead and was confused to see that Dan wasn’t in bed with them. He remembered Dan staying out later than the two of them the night before. "He probably fell asleep on the couch again," Arin thought.

He pulled on a nearby tank top and made his way to the living room to see if Dan was awake. He didn’t see him on the couch though. He walked to the kitchen and then the bathroom, he wasn’t in either one of those rooms either.  
“Dan?” Arin called.  
“Mmmm…” came an unfamiliar voice. It was high pitched and soft and it was coming from the living room couch. Arin walked over to the couch and was shocked at what he saw. There was a small child, maybe around two or three years old. He was sitting up right on the couch rubbing his eye. He had long dark brown hair and wore an oversized Tshirt that said ‘RUSH’ on the front. Arin’s eyes widened as the little boy looked up at him and smiled.  
“Awin!” the boy jumped into Arin’s arms and gave him a hug.  
“D-Dan?” Arin asked. He had to be dreaming, there was no way this was happening.  
“I Denny!” The little boy gestured to himself and looked proud as he proclaimed his name. 

Arin sat down and held the boy, who said he was Dan and closely looked at him. The little boy did look like Dan, but how could he be Dan? Also, how did this little boy end up on his couch. He was wearing the shirt Dan wore last night, and it was in his size.  
“You’re Dan?” Arin asked.  
“I Den! You Awin!” the boy smiled as he hugged Arin again.  
“Suzy!” Arin carried the boy to their bedroom.  
“Arin, it’s early, why are you yell-WHO’S KID IS THAT?” Suzy shot up and ran over to them and looked at the boy.  
“Thwoozy!” The boy jumped from Arin’s arms to Suzy’s and embraced her as he did Arin. Suzy looked at Arin.  
“Who is this?” She asked.  
“It’s uh...it’s Dan,” Arin said.  
“W-What?” Suzy looked back at the child and sat him down onto the bed. Arin and Suzy examined him close as the boy sat quietly. He seemed to like the attention.  
“Let’s try something.” Suzy sat on the bed with him and the boy faced her smiling.  
“What’s your name?” Suzy asked. Her voice was higher and more gentle, the way most adults speak to very young children when asking them questions.  
“I Den!” The boy seemed annoyed to have said it again. “I Den, you Thwoosy, you Awin!” the boy pointed to each person in the room respectively. He had a lisp, which is something Dan had mentioned he had as a child.  
“How old are you Dan?” Suzy smiled. Dan looked down at his left hand and proudly held up two fingers to her. Dan was left handed.  
“You’re two years old?” Suzy confirmed and Dan nodded his head smiling. Suzy looked back at her husband. Neither of them knew what to do. Suzy sighed and picked Dan up.  
“He is wearing the T-shirt Dan wore last night.” Arin said as he followed Suzy to the living room.  
“I know. He is left handed, sorta looks like that picture of Dan we put up on instagram that one time.” Suzy paced with Dan in her arms as she thought.  
“Didn’t Dan mention he had sort of a lisp too?” Arin asked and Suzy nodded.  
“Yes, he did.” She set Dan down at the kitchen table and began to make breakfast for the three of them.  
“How did this happen?” Suzy asked as she pulled out a pan and eggs.  
“Want help, babe?” Arin offered as he walked over to her.  
“No, but can you watch--DAN!” The married couple looked and saw Dan nearly fall off the chair as he tried to stand and see over the table. Arin was able to catch him before he hit the floor. Arin held Dan close as tears welled up in his eyes and cried. Arin patted his back and calmed him down.  
“Hey buddy, it’s okay. Don’t cry, you’re safe. I gotcha.” Arin soothed and wondered why he felt a need to refer to Dan as ‘buddy’.  
“That shirt is way too big for him, he’s going to keep tripping if he wears it.” Suzy stated as he began to cook. “Babe, if you go into the bedroom there is a set of some of Audrey’s clothes here that Rachel lent us for when we babysit her. For right now, they should do for him.” She said as Arin nodded and made his way to the bedroom. 

He sat Dan down on the bed and tried to find the drawer where they kept the extra pair of clothes for Audrey.  
“Awin, I help?” Dan asked as he tried to get off the bed.  
“N-no, that’s okay, Dan, I don’t want you to fall. Just sit tight.” Arin instructed as he pulled out a small t-shirt and grinned as it said ‘Baby Grump’ on it and a set of shorts and socks. Arin set them on the bed and looked at Dan.  
“Okay, put those on.” He said. Dan looked at the clothes confused and then back at Arin.  
“Awdrwee.” He said. Arin sat on the bed and looked down at him. It was odd, having to look completely down at his best friend and lover. He was so use to the slightly taller scruffy man, not this small innocent looking child.  
“Do you know who Audrey is?” Arin asked. Dan nodded. Well that was good at least, some of his memories are still there. Dan picked up the socks and looked up at Arin.  
“D-Do you need help getting dressed?” Arin wasn’t sure what Dan could and couldn’t do like this. Could two year olds gets dressed on their own? He had no idea. Dan put the socks in front of Arin and waited. Arin got the hint and helped Dan get dressed.

He let Dan walk back to the kitchen on his own but followed him closely, he didn’t want Dan to run into anything. It was weird watching Dan awkwardly walk so low to the ground. He was use to the tall man's long confident strides. Arin sighed, he missed it. When they entered the kitchen, Suzy’s face lit up.  
“Oh my god! I forgot that’s the outfit we had! You look so cute, Dan!” She knelt down and hugged Dan who giggled. The three of them sat down and ate breakfast together. Arin and Suzy watched as Dan struggled to hold a fork. He could do it, but it took him a while.  
“So, I just had a thought.” Suzy said. Arin looked at her, but Dan seemed to be concentrating more on his plate than what she was saying.  
“We need to go to the office today. Everyone is expecting Dan to be there too. How are we going to explain this?” They looked at Dan who was more so playing with his food instead of eating it. He looked up at them and smiled, which made Arin laugh.  
“He’s so fucking cute!” Arin said and Suzy slapped his arm.  
“Don’t curse in front of him.” Suzy said.  
“But it’s Dan! He swears all the time.” Arin said defensively. While Arin and Suzy went back and forth on whether or not cursing in front of Dan was okay, Dan slipped away from the kitchen table and walked away. The married couple panicked when they realized he wasn’t there anymore. They ran around the house trying to find him. How can a two year old move so quickly?  
“Found him!” Arin called after a few minutes of looking. Dan was in the bedroom again, trying to get onto the bed to pet Mochi. Arin picked him up and placed him on the bed so he could do so. Suzy had her phone to her ear as she entered the bedroom.  
“Who are you calling?” Arin asked.  
“We can’t leave Dan alone, so he’s going to have to come to the office with us. I’m calling someone who can help."

An hour passed as Arin and Suzy get ready to leave. It took a little longer because Dan was wandering around and they didn’t want to lose track of him. The doorbell rang and Arin answered, he smiled to see his friend, Brian, at the door.  
“Thanks for coming over on such short notice, man.” Arin thanked as he invited Brian inside.  
“No problem. Suzy seemed excited on the phone, but she didn’t say why.” Brian said as he followed Arin.  
“Uh...yeah. We’ve got a bit of a problem and you seemed like the best person that could help.” Arin said.  
“What’s going--” Brian was cut off when he saw Dan. He ran up to Brian and hugged his legs tightly, obviously happy to see him.  
“Bwian!” Dan smiled as he held up his arms, signaling that he wanted to be picked up. Brian was quiet and stared at Dan wide eyed for a moment before laughing loudly. Dan stepped away from Brian and looked upset as he kept laughing. Dan clenched his fists and whined as tears began to roll down his face.  
“Brian! You’re making him cry!” Suzy said as she went to console Dan, but Brian stopped her.  
“I’m sorry! I just wasn’t expecting that. C’mere Dan.” Brian’s "dad switch" must have flipped because once he was done laughing he picked up Dan and soothed him. Brian wiped the tears from Dan’s eyes and rubbed his back.  
“Shh. It’s okay Dan. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you. You understand right?” Brian’s voice was soft, but firm. He wasn’t talking down to Dan at all, he was talking to him like he would any other day. Once Dan calmed down he laid his head on Brian’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his neck. Brian held Dan close and swayed back and forth as he brought his attention back to Arin and Suzy.  
“How did this happen?” Brian asked.  
“We aren’t sure. We woke up and Dan was like this.” Arin explained. Brian nodded as he absentmindedly pat Dan’s back.  
“Well, until we figure out how to get him back to normal, we need to make sure he is taken care of,” Brian said.  
“Yeah. That’s what we’ve been doing.” Suzy said. Dan sat up suddenly and started to squirm in Brian’s arms.  
“Awin and Thwoozy good!” he exclaimed as Brian set him down on the ground again. Dan held onto Arin’s legs and looked back up at Brian. Brian knelt down to Dan’s level.  
“I know they’re good, Dan. We’re just stating what we need to do to take proper care of you,” he said and Dan seemed to understand.  
“This is going to be fun to explain at the office.” Brian held back a laugh.  
~~

After much debate and fussing, Dan was finally strapped into Audrey’s car seat in the back of Brian’s car while Suzy sat in the front with Brian and Arin sat in the back with Dan. Dan wasn’t too happy with the idea of being separated from Arin or Suzy for right now and they decided, until they get a better grasp on what was happening, to have Arin or Suzy with Dan at all times. When they got to the office, Arin carried Dan inside since he didn’t have shoes. They decided that after the work day they would pick up some clothes for Dan. 

Before they let Dan inside the actual office, Arin called everyone together for an emergency meeting to reveal the situation. Barry, Ross, Kevin, Vernon, and Jack all sat around the table in anticipation of what Arin was about to share. Arin took a deep breath.  
“Okay guys...so uh...we sorta have like...a situation?” Arin really wasn’t sure how to explain it.  
“What’s up?” Ross asked.  
“Is everything okay?” Barry asked. Arin rubbed the back of his head and looked at Brian, who was sitting next to him.  
“Do you want to just show them?” Brian suggested. Arin shrugged and looked behind him.  
“Okay, babe.” Arin called. Suzy walked to their friends holding Dan’s hand. Dan waved to his friends and smiled. The office got quiet as their friends took in the sight of a very small, young-looking Dan.  
“Oh my GOD!” Ross began to laugh. Barry and Kevin shot up and ran over to him while Vernon and Jack sat stunned. As Barry and Kevin ran to Dan, he only hid behind Suzy at the sudden surprise.  
“Guy’s back up. It’s Dan, but he’s got the mind of a child. You really can’t approach him so quickly like that.” Brian said as Suzy knelt down to calm Dan down.  
“Oh sorry.” Barry and Kevin backed up.  
“Do you know who everyone is?” Suzy asked. Dan looked around for a moment.  
“Roth, Bawwy, Keben, Bernen, Jack!” Dan pointed to everyone as he spoke. Ross laughed harder.  
“Oh my god, why does he sound like that?” Ross laughed.  
“Thut up, Roth!” Dan yelled.  
“Yeah, Ross, come on, knock it off.” Suzy scolded as Ross nodded and stopped laughing.  
“Okay so, since Dan is this way, and we don’t know how long he’ll be this way we obviously can’t record any new stuff with Dan. So we gotta make sure we have enough content to fall back on.” Arin explained. As they talked over what they could do, Dan walked around the office, no one seemed to notice except Brian, who kept an eye on him while his friends talked. After a few minutes, Brian spoke up.  
“Hey guys.” He started, his friends turned to him. “Where did Dan go?” He knew exactly where he was, but he knew no one else did and it sent them into a panic. Brian stood up and pointed toward the grump room, where Dan was sitting on the couch.  
“How did he do that? He was just next to me,” Suzy sighed.  
“You gotta be careful around kids. They get into everything,” Brian said.  
“That means one of us is going to have to watch him today.” Suzy looked at Arin who nodded.  
“I can watch him since we can’t record grumps.” He picked up Dan, and Suzy had an idea.  
“Since you aren’t recording, can you go get some clothes for him?” She asked. “We don’t know how long he’ll be this way and we should be prepared.” Arin nodded.  
“That’s a good idea. Can I borrow your car, Brian?” Arin asked as Brian nodded and gave him the keys.  
“Don’t damage my car.” Brian joked.

After fighting with the car seat, he and Dan were on the road. Brian made a list of things a child would most likely need. Arin felt odd as he drove. He was use to Dan sitting in the passenger's seat, making inappropriate jokes, and recently, lovingly holding each other's hands. But now, he was sitting in a car seat, head bouncing to the music on the radio. He was unsure how much of adult Dan was still around. He knew who everyone was, and he knew his way around the house and the grump space. But, he needed help getting dressed and he couldn’t hold a fork correctly.  
“Awin?” Dan asked from the back.  
“What is it?” Arin asked  
“I love you.” Dan smiled and Arin’s heart twinged. He loved Dan, and Dan was a child, but they still loved each other.

As they shopped for clothes for Dan, it was really awkward for the both of them. Arin grabbed a cart and turned to Dan.  
“Okay dude, get in the cart.” Arin said as he knelt down to pick him up.  
“No! I walk!” Dan protested as he struggled in Arin’s arms.  
“C’mon man. I know you can, but since you’re so small now, I don’t want to lose you, okay?” Arin set Dan down in the front of the cart, but he wasn’t happy about it. Dan pouted as Arin went to the children's clothing section. He let Dan have input on what sort of clothes he wanted.  
“Do you want blue shirts?” Arin asked and Dan nodded.  
“I like blue.” Dan looked over to a rack of blue shirts close by and Arin made his way over there. While they were looking at clothes, a woman came up to the two of them.  
“Oh he’s so cute! Is he yours?” the woman asked. Arin and Dan were both taken off guard.  
“Uh....y-yeah?” Arin wasn’t sure how to answer her since Dan *wasn’t* his. But he didn’t want to explain how his best friend, co worker, and lover suddenly became a small child.  
“It’s so nice to see a single father with his kid. Guys like you are so rare. I wish my ex was more like you.” The woman gave Arin a smirk and he became a little uncomfortable with the sudden familiarity. Suddenly Arin saw a blur dash before him and the woman screeched and stumbled back as a shirt fell onto the floor.  
“My Awin!” Dan yelled. Arin held back a laugh as the woman composed herself, looking annoyed.  
“Looks like he doesn’t like to share.” She huffed.  
“No. Not really.” Arin giggled as the woman walked away. Once she was out of sight, Arin lifted his hand to Dan.  
“Nice.” He said as Dan high fived him.  
“My Awin.” Dan said confidently as he pointed to the shirt he threw. “I want that one.” He said as Arin picked it up. It was a blue t-shirt with dinosaurs on it.  
“This is totally you, dude.” Arin complimented as he put the shirt back in the cart.

The rest of their shopping trip ended up with about a week's worth of clothes and pajamas, a car seat of their own so they wouldn’t have to rely on Brian, and a stuffed Stegosaurus that Dan found and would not let go of.  
“Ready to go back and see everyone?” Arin asked as he strapped Dan into the car seat.  
“Thwoozy.” Dan said as he rubbed his eye.  
“Are you sleepy?” Arin asked.  
“No!” Dan protested as he yawned.  
“Alright, Alright.” Arin backed off and got into the driver's seat. Before he started to drive, he realized that Brian had their ‘Under the Covers’ CD in the player, Arin turned it on and played “The Last Unicorn” as he began to drive. Dan was asleep by the time he got to the first stop light, cuddling his new stuffed dinosaur closely.

Arin tried not to stir Dan up too much as he carried him back into the office. Once he entered, Suzy hurried over to them, but kept quiet when she saw that Dan was asleep.  
“Is anyone recording right now?” Arin whispered.  
“Yeah, Ross and Barry.” The two of them went over to the couch in the corner and laid Dan down, covering him up with the blanket that adult Dan had grown accustomed too. Dan held the stegosaurus close as he napped.  
“Oh, I need to get a picture of this, it’s so cute.” Suzy whispered as she pulled out her phone and quickly took a picture. Arin smiled as he looked.  
“That’s too flippin’ cute, send that to me.” He asked.  
“Don’t let him sleep too long, or else he won’t sleep tonight.” Brian advised as he walked over to the three of them.  
“Oh yeah that’s probably a good idea.” Suzy agreed. He was asleep for about an hour and woke up confused.  
“Awin! Thwoozy!” Dan called as he shimmed off the couch, dragging his toy with him. He looked around to see his friends on computers, probably working. He rubbed his eye and dragged the dinosaur behind him as he made his way towards Brian, who was the closest. Brian noticed him and smiled.  
“Hey, have a nice nap?” He asked as he lifted him up onto his lap. Dan nodded as he looked on the table. Brian had a bunch of lined paper out, some of them balled up. Dan pointed to the papers and looked up at Brian.  
“Just working on some NSP lyrics. Wanna help?” Brian handed Dan the pen. Dan stood on Brian’s lap while Brian had a firm hold on Dan while he tried his best to write. But it all just ended up as scribbles. That discouraged Dan as he threw down the pen in frustration and began to cry. Brian sighed as he embraced Dan and patted his back.  
“It’s okay, Dan. You don’t need to cry. Today just isn’t a good day for writing, we can try again tomorrow.” He said. Brian was still very unclear on what was happening and why, but he wanted to be there for his friend. Even though he would mercilessly mess with Dan on any other given day, seeing him in this young, vulnerable state, his "dad switch" turned on. He knew Dan was still there. He was Dan, but not the Dan he knew, not exactly anyway.

At the end of the day, Dan enthusiastically said goodbye to everyone in the office as he was carried to the car by Suzy. He dreaded being strapped into the car seat again, but let it happen, he knew fighting it would only stress out Suzy. Once they got back to the Hanson home, Brian helped install the new carseat into Arin’s car for the morning.  
“When Dan gets back to normal I’ll show you how to take this out.” Brian said. He looked over at Arin who had a concerned look on his face.  
“Everything okay?” he asked.  
“What if Dan doesn’t get better?” Arin asked.  
“Well...if he doesn’t….we’ll figure something out.” Brian pulled Arin into a quick embraced and patted his back.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Brian said his goodbyes as Arin went inside.

When Arin got inside he saw Suzy holding Dan in the kitchen, looking in the pantry.  
“Hey babe, can you come here and help us figure out what to make for dinner?” She asked. Arin went into the kitchen and looked.  
“Well, what do we have?” He asked.  
“Rice, Chicken, veggies, which is fine but I don’t know what Dan will eat like this.” Suzy explained as she looked at Dan.  
“Well, Dan likes chicky fingers.” Arin stated, remembering a recording session from not too long ago. Suzy handed Dan off to Arin as she went to the freezer.  
“Lucky day, Dan! We got chicken fingers.” Suzy smiled as she pulled out the bag.  
“Yay!” Dan cheered as Suzy began to make dinner. Arin sat Dan at the table while he helped Suzy cook and Dan sat quietly and watched. At one point, Suzy turned around to see Dan standing on the chair smiling at them.  
“What are smiling about?” She joked.  
“Thwoozy pretty.” Dan smiled and Suzy blushed. Dan was always very affectionate toward her and Arin when they started their relationship and it was nice to see a little of that side still present. As they ate dinner, it was decided that Dan would get a bath and get ready for bed, which Dan cooperated with, which surprised Arin and Suzy. They were sure the childish side would show and he would fight getting a bath. 

It was getting dark and Dan still wasn’t tired enough to actually sleep so Arin suggested they turn on a movie. As they searched through Netflix, Dan screamed when he saw ‘The Last Unicorn’  
“Unicorn!” He yelled as he jumped and pointed at the screen.  
“Okay, guess we’re watching this.” Suzy smiled as she stood up. “I’ll go make some popcorn.” When she came back, Arin had Dan in his lap snuggling under a blanket waiting for her.  
“Thwoozy! Unicorn!” Dan exclaimed as she sat down.  
“Yep! Here we go.” She pressed play and Dan was asleep by the middle of the movie. When it ended, Suzy snuck in a selfie of the three of them cuddling on the couch, with a sleeping Dan hugging a stuffed dinosaur and everything. Arin carried Dan to their bedroom and laid him down as they all got into bed together and drifted off to sleep.

Over the next few days, Arin, Suzy, and Dan fell into a rhythm in the morning and evenings. Arin took care of Dan in the morning and Suzy took care of him at night. During the day, Dan would spend most of his time coloring or playing while everyone else worked. Every so often Barry or Ross would play with him. Ross even brought in his old action figures and everyone in the office ended up joining in. Another day, Brian brought Audrey to the office which was a great day for Dan to have a play mate his age. He became more and more energetic each day, but Arin and Suzy were starting to get concerned. They were running out of backlog episodes and they weren’t sure when Dan would go back to normal. Dan noticed how stressed Arin and Suzy were becoming over the situation and felt guilty. He had done something wrong, he didn’t know exactly what it was but...he knew he needed to help them. They needed an adult, but Dan wasn’t a grown up. But if he was grown up, he could help them. He loved Arin and Suzy and wanted to do everything he could to help them. 

Arin and Suzy tucked Dan into bed and handed him his stuffed stegosaurus.  
“Good night, Dan.” Arin kissed his forehead.  
“Night, Dan.” Suzy laid next to him and got comfortable while Arin was on the other side. Dan sat up and held onto each of their hands.  
“I love Thwoozy and Awin. A lot. I thowwy.” Dan started to cry which alarmed the other two.  
“What are you sorry about Dan?” Arin asked as he patted his back.  
“Awin and Thwoozy mad. Den is bad.” he cried.  
“No...no no no no.” Suzy pulled Dan into her lap and cradled him. Arin scooted closer as they calmed him down.  
“Not going to lie, this is stressful, but it isn’t your fault Dan.” She said.  
“We could never be mad at you, bud. We love you so much.” Arin ruffled Dan’s hair which seemed to work as he began to calm down.  
“We’ll make this work.” Suzy kissed the top of Dan’s head and laid him down.  
“Better?” Arin asked. Dan nodded as he grabbed his toy again.  
“Better.” Dan laid back down with them and they three of them drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, when Arin and Suzy woke up, Dan wasn’t in the bed with them, which alarmed them.  
“Dan!” Arin yelled.  
“Dan!” Suzy yelled.  
“Kitchen!” came a familiar voice which made Arin and Suzy’s heart jump. It’s was Dan’s voice. They ran to the kitchen to see the tall poofy-haired, lanky man they came to love standing in the kitchen eating an apple.  
“Morning guys.” He smiled. Arin and Suzy ran over to him and hugged him, both had tears in their eyes.  
“Whoa! What's up guys?” He asked as he held the two of them.  
“You’re back.” Suzy cried.  
“What do you mean? I never left.” Dan sounded confused.  
“Do you remember what happened at all this week?” Arin asked. Dan was silent as he thought.  
“I remember working a lot and that barbeque was awesome. I crashed right on the couch and had this wicked crazy dream.” Dan said.  
“Do you remember it at all?” Suzy asked as her and Arin sat at the table.  
“Yeah. I was a little kid again and you guys were like my parents, it was super weird. You guys did a good job though. Brian helped a little too.” Dan recapped just about everything that happened in the past week and said it happened in his dream.  
“That is a weird dream, Dan.” Arin said as he looked at Suzy, both unsure if they should tell him he actually turned into a child. They decided against it, since it was clear to him it was a dream. 

When Dan left the room, Suzy pulled out her phone.  
“What are you doing?” Arin asked.  
“The pictures are gone.” She said.  
“What?” Arin looked at her phone.  
“All the pictures I took of us and Dan this week are gone. It’s like it never happened.” Suzy went through her pictures. there was no evidence of the young Dan on her phone.  
“Hey guys, did a fan send us this?” Dan came out holding the stuffed stegosaurus Arin bought for him earlier that week,  
“Uh. Yeah, Dan, it’s for you,” Arin said.  
“Sweet.” Dan smirked as he held onto the toy. 

To Dan, it was a blissful dream, to Arin and Suzy it was an interesting look at parenthood and a look at how Dan actually was as a child. In a way, they missed the child. They missed holding him and caring for him. However, it didn’t compare to their already existing friendship and love for the 37 year old man, and they couldn’t be happier to have him back to normal.


End file.
